What happens when a snowstorm hits Sunshine Island?

Synopsis

Welcome to Sunshine Island – where the beaches are golden, the lifestyle is perfect and anything is possible.

It’s December and Jax Hudson doesn’t mind the cold. He’s still wearing shorts and walking barefoot on the beach. He’s looking forward to spending Christmas with his girlfriend until she unexpectantly calls time on their relationship.

Alone and feeling very sorry for himself, Jax accepts an invitation to a Christmas Eve party and bumps into Phoebe Bishop who is still mortified about kissing him in the summer.

As the first snow flurries delight the party guests, the festive joy soon turns to disaster when a snowstorm knocks out the island’s power. Panic ensues as people realise their Christmas plans may have to be cancelled.

Phoebe is reluctantly enlisted by Jax to help transport the partygoers to the comforts of their own homes. As Jax and Phoebe spend time together they realise they have more in common than either had imagined…

Could this be a Christmas full of magic, mistletoe and happy-ever-afters?

My review

Jax Hudson is a real kind and generous man yet also seen as a bit odd, as he always prefers to walk barefoot and in shorts, despite the weather conditions.
Even when his girlfriend breaks up with him, he understands her and wants to be friends anyway, especially as her little boy stole his heart too.
At a Christmas Eve party, he bumps into Phoebe Bishop again, Phoebe who still is mortified about her behaviour last summer.
But the party turns into a small disaster when snow begins to fall an the power falls out. Not everyone can drive back home, and with Christmas just a day away, many plans may have to be cancelled.
Jax and Phoebe help out the party goers as good as they can, and this is only the first occasion where they spend time together and realize that despite their differences they also have a lot in common… 

I absolutely loved returning to Sunshine Island and I was very eager to get to know Jax better and see what love would have in store for him. 

Both Jax and Phoebe are not brand new characters, as they already made appearances in the previous books of this series, but even if you haven’t read them, you can enjoy this one! 

Jax is in so many ways the perfect man, even if I would be frustrated just like his parents with his easy nature and no need for any shoes and even in winter he prefers to wear shorts.
But I can easily forgive him for the above as he is just a lovely person.
At the start of this book, he is in a relationship with Beth. It’s a rather new relationship and he understands that Beth wants to take things slowly. Only for that, Jax is scoring points! But seeing how close he is to Beth’s son, truly made my heart melt.
Whatever Jax does, he does it from the heart. And his affection for the kid isn’t one to score with Beth, but it’s an honest affection. 

He is even that gentle kind of person that understand that Beth isn’t ready to a relationship after losing her husband. It would be easy to get mad at her and break all contact and just stop caring, but that is not who Jax is. He wants to be friends with her, and he wants to be there for both Beth and Billy. 

It saddened me in one way that things didn’t work out for him and Beth, as there for sure was a lot of potential, but I also knew that Phoebe would be an even better match. 

What I liked about Phoebe is that her parents’ wealth didn’t turn her into a snob. Even the friendship with Fliss (which I still don’t understand), kept her being her kind self.
It was a bit funny to read how she still feels some shame about her out of character behaviour last summer.
And getting to know the real Phoebe, without the toxic presence of Fliss, was a real joy. 

At the party, it is the start of the bonding of the two main characters. First with a dance, then bringing the people back home when the power goes off, to sleeping together (just sleeping!) under the same table. 

While they both want to get to know each other better, they cannot stop having several kinds of misunderstandings and don’t appear to get on the same page. Yet they both are always there to help each other out. To see how they have a total different upbringing, but still have so much alike, shows us that the way you were raised doesn’t completely make you the person who you are. Because as we can see with Phoebe, and even Fliss, our hearts and mindset is what makes us *us*. 

There were several moments where I thought things would go terribly wrong, with even the appearance of someone we don’t really like, or even that it would be impossible to get things back fixed between Phoebe and Jax. But I was glad to read that my fears were ungrounded. 

I loved to read about these two great characters who deserve to find their own happiness and deserve this spotlight on the both of them. 

This was a lovely story, easy to read and to fall in love with. And while it is set on a dreamy place like Sunshine Island yet taking place during winter, it’s doesn’t take away the magic, but maybe even highlights it even more!
The author managed once again to write a wonderful, sweet story that takes you away on a marvellous journey with amazing characters!